The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth (ARRT or “The Alliance”) is a newly formed alliance with a mission to educate the public about reparations, amplify the California Reparations Task Force’s Final Report and its recommendations, and achieve broad-based, multi-racial public support of reparations. ARRT believes that reparations should bring about transformative, systemic, and long-lasting policy solutions that change the lives of Black Californians and that address all five of the United Nations reparations principles and be aligned with the recommendations provided by the California Reparations Task Force Report.
Following the historic unveiling of the California Legislative Black Caucus Reparations Package in February, ARRT thoughtfully assessed the policies introduced in this cycle and their alignment with our mission and values. The Black Caucus’ reparations package marks a historic and meaningful moment. The Alliance encourages lawmakers to pursue an even more expansive and definitive action to fulfill the reparations principles recognized by the United Nations.
The California Legislature adjourned this year’s session on Saturday, August 31, and Governor Gavin Newsom had until Monday, September 30, to take action on the bills they sent to his desk. Of the 19 measures ARRT prioritized this legislative session, the governor signed eight, two were vetoed, and one will be on the November ballot. Eight of Alliance’s priorities did not make it out of the legislative process.
Below is a complete list of the measures ARRT has prioritized during the 2023-2024 Legislative Session:
MEASURES SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR (8)
AB 1815 (Weber) – Discrimination: race: hairstyles.
This bill would declare that its provisions are declaratory of existing law, which prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics. This bill would also incorporate additional changes to Section 51 of the Civil Code proposed by SB 1137.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 1929 (McKinnor) – Career technical education: data collection.
This bill requires that local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving specified Career Technical Education (CTE) state grants and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) to disaggregate program and performance accountability outcome data by race and gender.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 1986 (Bryan) – State prisons: banned books.
This bill requires the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to post the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Centralized List of Disapproved Publications (Centralized List) on its website.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 2319 (Wilson/Weber) – California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act.
This bill expands the types of healthcare providers and health facility employees who must participate in implicit bias training pursuant to the California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act (the Act.)
Position: SUPPORT
AB-3089 Chattel slavery: formal apology.
Apologizes for the State of California’s role in perpetuating slavery and its ongoing legacy of systemic racism.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 3131 (McCarty) – California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program: Strong Workforce Program: priority for applicants in historically redlined communities.
This bill requires that local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving Equity Multiplier funding through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) be given positive consideration for the K-12 Strong Workforce Program (SWP), a career technical education (CTE) initiative.
Position: SUPPORT
SB 1089 (Smallwood-Cuevas) – Food and prescription access: grocery and pharmacy closures.
This bill requires grocery and pharmacy establishments to provide written notice to its employees and others no later than 45 days prior to a closure, among other things.
Position: SUPPORT
SB 1137 (Smallwood-Cuevas) – Discrimination claims: intersectionality of characteristics.
This bill clarifies that the Unruh Civil Rights Act, the provisions of the Education Code prohibiting discrimination in public education, and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibit discrimination on the basis not just of individual protected traits, but also on the basis of the combination of two or more protected traits.
Position: SUPPORT
BALLOT MEASURES (1)
ACA 8 (Wilson) – Slavery
Amends the California Constitution to remove current provision that allows jails and prisons to impose involuntary servitude to punish crime (i.e., forcing incarcerated persons to work).
Will be on the ballot as Proposition 6 for the November 5, 2025 General Election.
Position: SUPPORT
VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (2)
AB 1975 (Bonta) – Medi-Cal: medically supportive food and nutrition interventions.
This bill would make medically supportive food and nutrition interventions, as defined, a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program, through both the fee-for-service and managed care delivery systems, effective July 1, 2026, subject to federal approval and the issuance of final guidance by the department.
Veto Message.
Position: SUPPORT
SB 1050 (Bradford) – California American Freedmen Affairs Agency: racially motivated eminent domain.
This bill establishes a procedure by which a dispossessed owner, as defined, of property that was taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, as defined, may apply for the return of the property, property of equal value, or compensation.
Veto Message.
Position: SUPPORT
MEASURES HELD IN THE LEGISLATURE (8)
ACR 135 (Weber) – Human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants.
This measure would acknowledge the harms and atrocities committed by representatives of the State of California who promoted, facilitated, enforced, and permitted the institution of chattel slavery and the legacy of ongoing badges and incidents of slavery that form the systemic structures of discrimination.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 2064 (Jones-Sawyer) – Community Violence Interdiction Grant Program.
This bill would have required the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) to administer the Community Violence Interdiction Grant Program to provide funding to local community programs for community-driven solutions to decrease violence in neighborhoods and schools.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 2862 (Gipson) – Licenses: African American applicants.
This bill would have required all licensing boards, bureaus, commissions, and programs (boards) within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to prioritize African American applicants seeking licensure, especially those who are descended from an enslaved person in the United States, until January 1, 2029.
Position: SUPPORT
SCR 113 (Smallwood-Cuevas) – Human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants.
This measure would acknowledge the harms and atrocities committed by representatives of the State of California who promoted, facilitated, enforced, and permitted the institution of chattel slavery and the legacy of ongoing badges and incidents of slavery that form the systemic structures of discrimination.
Position: SUPPORT
SB 1013 (Bradford) – Taxation: Property Tax Assistance for Descendants of Enslaved Persons.
This bill would have created a property tax assistance program for the descendants of an African American chattel enslaved person in the United States and descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century, as specified.
Position: SUPPORT
SB 1331 (Bradford) – The Fund for Reparations and Restorative Justice.
This bill would have established the Fund for Reparations and Reparative Justice in the State Treasury for the purpose of funding policies approved by the Legislature and the Governor that address the harm that the State of California has caused to descendants of enslaved African Americans and certain Free Blacks.
Position: SUPPORT
AB 1990 (Carrillo)- Criminal procedure: arrests: shoplifting.
This bill would have authorized a warrantless arrest for shoplifting not committed in the presence a police officer and provide that the arrested person may not be cited and released.
Position: OPPOSE
SB 1011 (Jones) – Encampments: penalties.
This bill would have made sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property upon any street, sidewalk, if a homeless shelter, as defined is available to the person, if a homeless shelter, as defined is available to the person. The bill also prohibits sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property within 500 feet of a public or private school, open space, or major transit stop.
Position: OPPOSE
